Oh man, I love this topic.
My personal favorite jazz drummer is Art Blakey, because he has the strongest and most driving sense of swing I've heard. His band for many decades, The Jazz Messangers, always feature the hottest musicians in the business. You can't go wrong picking up any of his many, many albums.
Max Roach is a master of subtlety, style, and dynamics. His stuff with Clifford Brown is gorgeous, but he played on so many albums it's impossible to list them.
For some amazing second generation post-bop music, I love Tony Williams, specifically his participation in Miles Davis' "second quintet." Albums like ESP, Miles Smiles, Sorcerer, and Nefertiti find a very young Williams exploring the concept of implying a beat, allowing space to play around the traditional rhythms.
No jazz drumming thread would be complete without mentioning Buddy Rich, of course. A favorite of many swing lovers.
I must mention two more of Miles' legendary drummers- Jimmy Cobb, featured in Kind of Blue, and Philly "Joe" Jones, who to me sounds like a disicple of Blakey.
Finally, for some truly explosive, polyrhythmic wizardry, check out Elvin Jones, most famous for playing with Coltrane on such seminal albums as A Love Supreme. The man is a monster behind the kit- and still touring!
